The present invention relates to a dental unit.
At present, a dental unit in its most basic form typically consists of a chair and a base or column which mounts the main and auxiliary items of dental equipment, including a tray for a main set of handpieces and another tray for an accessory set of handpieces.
The dental unit is normally equipped with a plurality of dental handpieces, divided substantially into instruments, for example, the turbine and the micromotor, used for removal of dental material, and instruments, for example, the syringe and the polymerizing lamp, used for complementary stages of dental treatment.
These handpieces may be located, according to function, either on the main tray or on the accessory tray.
With the passage of time, this basic structure has been constantly improved in both the internal and external features of the dental unit. Thus, the latest dental units include sophisticated water and compressed air systems, one or more microprocessor units designed to control the functions of the dental unit, and other technological developments.
These developments have also greatly improved the operative parts of dental units, for example, the handpieces, and especially micromotors, which the present invention is concerned with in particular. A handpiece typically comprises a first body, constituting the part by which the handpiece is held and which is equipped on the end of it with a head to which a tool (for example, a burr) can be fitted.
In micromotor handpieces, the first body is connected to a second body, which houses a motor. The connection is coaxial by means of a quick-release fitting on the respective ends of the two bodies. The second body is in turn connected, at its other end, to an endpiece that supplies water or physiological saline, air for nebulizing the liquid, air for cooling the micromotor and electricity for driving the micromotor. The endpiece constitutes the end of a cable that starts at one of the aforementioned handpiece trays on a dental unit and that combines the conduits and wires used to supply the fluids and electricity required for the operation of the handpiece.
The performance of these handpieces, driven by conventional electric motors, has reached the highest possible levels, giving little room for further improvement. The Applicant has therefore designed a handpiece which, instead of a conventional electric motor with brushes, is driven by a brushless motor. This optimizes speed control, offers better torque response and silent operation, and reduces friction and heating, thereby increasing the useful life of the motor. In addition to this, the new handpiece can be used for both traditional, conservative treatments and for implants thanks to a constructional architecture that enables it to be fitted with all the tools and accessories currently used on traditional handpieces.